Tending Garden

Reaching her goal of attending college will likely allow Suri to help her family become economically secure. Because of her sponsorship, this young woman is likely to reach her fullest, God-given potential.

Every day, 13-year-old Suri Gonzalez is reminded of the earthquake that devastated her home in January 2001. She can see its remains from her new concrete-brick home (built with materials purchased through Compassion's Disaster Relief Fund), located just a few steps away. In between is a garden, flourishing with colorful tropical flowers and blossoming rose bushes. It's a canvas of contrasts - crumbled remnants and rebuilt walls, barren ground and the seeds of hope in full bloom.

When Suri is not tending the garden or helping with other chores at home, she's at school or at Por Una Vida Mejor ("For A Better Life") Project (ES-512) in her hometown of Tacuba, Ahuachapá®¬ located in a mountainous area of western El Salvador. It seems ironic that, for this girl who loves nature and flowers, one of her favorite activities is practicing computer skills. On this day, she had been creating a spreadsheet, which she says is useful for making, among other things, planning charts and salary schedules.

Rooted Hope

Like a garden in the midst of rubble, the Compassion project in Tacuba helps plant seeds of hope in children like Suri, who otherwise have little to hope for.

By offering hands-on computer training and many other vocational skills, Christ-centered activities, craft classes, health education and medical assistance, the project opens up a new range of thinking and anticipation for the future that, for millions of impoverished children around the globe, are unfathomable.

Suri fully appreciates the ongoing benefits she reaps from her sponsorship through Compassion. "On my own, I could not afford to go to computer school. I appreciate these classes that Compassion is giving me ... they will really help me and improve my future" - a future she hopes will include going to the university to study biology and other sciences.

To this multi-faceted young woman with her own garden of interests, whose life began with severely limited opportunities, Compassion sponsorship is a big deal. Suri's family displays her sponsor's photo prominently in their home. "I would like to meet her someday," Suri said, " and I will thank her for supporting me all these years and I will tell her that I love her."